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David Harris Ebenbach

Into the Wilderness: Parenting Stories Paperback – October 15, 2012

by David Harris Ebenbach (Author)

17 ratings

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Becoming a parent...is going ‘into the wilderness,’” says author Jesse Lee Kercheval of David Ebenbach's "vivid and emotional"collection of stories. The collection Into the Wilderness explores the theme of parenthood from many angles: an eager-to-connect divorced father takes his kids to a Jewish-themed baseball game; a lesbian couple tries to decide whether their toddler son needs a man in his life; one young couple debates the idea of parenthood while another struggles with infertility; a reserved father uses an all-you-can-eat buffet to comfort his heartbroken son. But the backbone of the collection is Judith, who we follow through her challenging first weeks of motherhood, culminating in an intense and redemptive baby-naming ceremony. Says author Joan Leegant, “Ebenbach takes us deep into the heart of the messy confusion and terror and unfathomable love that make up that shaky state we call parenthood. These stories are fearless, honest and true.

Print length

222 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Washington Writers' Publishing House
Publication date

October 15, 2012
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.51 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

093184665X
ISBN-13

978-0931846656
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This fiction focuses on the most important human relations, the ones central to our conceptions of who we are and what life is about. Ebenbach does this all while playing to his strength: using the small, the ordinary, the everyday to give little glimmering glimpses of the enormous, the extraordinary, and the startlingly true."

-Eve Ottenberg, Washington City Paper

"The souls of Judith's story and each of Ebenbach's stories about the wilderness of parenthood shine brightly in this lush, honest and beautifully written collection."

-Karen Paul-Stern, CurrentMom

"Into the Wilderness, a terrific collection of 14 stories, explores that ostensibly familiar but ever strange, exciting but terrifying territory of parenthood....Once read, these quiet and luminous tales linger. With charm, insight, and humor, Ebenbach reveals a deeper meaning to everyday events that by their very ordinariness rush by unnoticed, moments typically experienced without thought or examination."

-Linda Morefield, Washington Independent Review of Books

"Ebenbach's range is as varied and nuanced as the parental experience....Ebenbach's empathy, of showing the complexity of his characters no matter how dark...give it an authenticity that transcend gender or parental roles into what is at heart what it means to be human. It's as if the stories have always existed and we're hearing about it now; they weren't created by some guy, they happened to someone."
-Robert Duffer, Good Men Project

"Into the Wilderness is a delightful read."

-Simone Ellin, Baltimore Jewish Times

"Each story in Into the Wilderness is like a sharp-focus snapshot of a moment of parenting: sad, funny, perplexing, but always honest."

-Stephanie Bedford, Capital Times

"The arrival of a child throws the various characters in Into the Wilderness into confusion. With delicacy and generosity, David Ebenbach follows as they try to find their uncertain ways, discovering that, whatever their ages, some reach parenthood before they're ready to tackle adulthood."
-Stewart O'Nan

"For the very real people in David Ebenbach's vivid and emotional stories, becoming a parent--as Judith, the single mother in four of the stories, says--is going 'into the wilderness.' It is the oldest human story and, in Ebenbach's sure hands, the truest and most moving."
-Jesse Lee Kercheval

"David Ebenbach takes us deep into the heart of the messy confusion and terror and unfathomable love that make up that shaky state we call parenthood. These stories are fearless, honest and true. They are also a joy to read."
-Joan Leegant

Product details

Publisher : Washington Writers' Publishing House; Edition Unstated (October 15, 2012)
Language : English
Paperback : 222 pages
ISBN-10 : 093184665X
ISBN-13 : 978-0931846656
Item Weight : 10.1 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.51 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,867,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #77,655 in Short Stories (Books)

Customer Reviews:
17 ratings

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Andy Mozina

Impressive Story Collection

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2014

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In this impressive collection, David Ebenbach deftly renders contemporary family life. His characters are consistently complex and appealing; his situations are grounded in everyday concerns about being a good parent and navigating a tough economy and are heightened by the acute angles he takes and the incidents that drive the stories. There’s an almost compulsive honesty in the book’s approach to its subjects that often carries into the behavior of its protagonists. In “Person of Interest,” a young mother both warns her Middle Eastern neighbor that the police are after him and tells the police where he is. In the Carveresque “Hungry to Eat,” an unemployed father earns one of the best happy endings I’ve read in a while. The divorced father’s relationship with his children in “Jewish Day” had me punch drunk from the force of so many moments of recognition. “Counterfactual,” which is built from mutually exclusive branching narratives that nevertheless sprout naturally from each other, is a great example of an unusual form perfectly supporting its content. Ebenbach’s women are as convincing as his men (to this man, at least), and he writes sensitively (and bravely) about the physicality of motherhood. The sequence of pieces about Judith, a bewildered single mother, ends with an emotionally powerful moment that struck me as deeply as anything I’ve read in a while and perfectly concludes her character arc and the collection as a whole. There is a fair amount of humor in these pages as well, all of it arising smoothly from character and situation. This is the work of a wise and humane sensibility.

One person found this helpful

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ScoutandHuck

The Wilderness of All Families

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2014

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It's really nice to have a short story writer who is male and brings humor and deep emotion to the table. He is not a "tricky" writer, but he's smart, and the stories sort of well up and crescendo. They start off feeling quiet, but then they build and haunt me. His insights about family are intense and universal. I don't have kids, but it's irrelevant. The writing is potent and moving and sweet and funny and modern.

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Atticus Weller

A wonderfully engaging and insightful collection of short stories

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014

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David Ebenbach writes with elegant economy and a rare sensitivity. The stories in this excellent collection illuminate the lives of a diverse and contemporary set of characters – a divorced father, a single mother, a gay couple – and their struggles with the challenges of parenthood. Ebenbach gets inside their heads with dialogue and dabs of narrative color that feel remarkably natural and help to highlight the common humanity of dissimilar human beings. This could come across as preachy in the hands of a less skilled writer, but Ebenbach lightens his message with understated humor and an appreciation for his characters’ failings. None of the stories deal with headline events, but Ebenbach finds plenty of drama in the pageantry and subtext of daily events, and he describes the very real fears of parenthood with great skill (particularly in the stories about Judith, a single mother). The result is a gripping collection of set pieces, each an eloquent exposition of the meaning to be found in small things.

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Caitlin O.

Wonderful collection of stories

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2012

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This crisply written collection of short stories about parenting (or not) are terrific. They transport you to a diverse array of perspectives: the crushing exhaustion of new motherhood, the stifling conversations with noncustodial children, angst-ridden new fathers, the unique perspectives of gay couples and others. The stories will haunt you in a good way!

One person found this helpful

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Tina Pachulia

Great book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2013

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Into the Wilderness unearths some of the tangled roots of societies and souls. A diverse, contemporary cast of characters are described in the midst of very personal struggles. The unassuming narration still communicates an urgency of purpose--the stories leave the reader pondering the sometimes melancholic beauty of ordinary human relationships. I think it's time for Ebenbach to write a novel.

2 people found this helpful

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dwgodby

Enjoyable Short Stories

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2012

Author David Ebenbach writes a very interesting collection of short stories. If you like to read small bits of different yet interesting events then you will enjoy this book. Included within the book is a story about a family who goes to a baseball game on Jewish Day. It is interesting how the father and his son and daughter communication both with each other and the people around them. Also there is a story about a father and how he tries to relate to his son using a dinner out. It describes how difficult it is to share what is on one's heart and yet the joy that comes when love is shared with your son.
The longest story is written in four parts about a lady named Judith and her daughter. She finds herself pregnant without knowing who the father is. Her parents come and help her during the pregnancy and after the delivery trying desperately to know the name of the newborn baby. They are Jewish and Judith wants to have an official Jewish ceremony where there is an official giving of the baby's name. She goes a full month before this service without knowing what name she will come up with and while in the middle of the ceremony she is enlighten with the name and shares that with the congregation at one time. This is a very heartwarming story filled with questions, frustration, joy and destiny.
I enjoyed some stories more than others of course, and everyone will have their favorite. I would encourage you to take it out on a test run and see how you like the stories.
This book was provided by JKS Communications for my honest review.
4 of 5 stars.

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